Everett, WA Gun Owners Must Report Lost/Stolen Guns Within 24 Hours

The new law went into effect August 1st.

From The Daily Herald recently came a report that the city council voted on and passed an ordinance in July, making it illegal to not report a firearm that goes lost or stolen within city limits of Everett, Washington. The law went into effect Wednesday, August 1st. The City of Everett is about 25 miles north of Seattle.

The state of Washington already has a statewide law very similar to this new ordinance, which opponents of the proposal were quick to point out. The rebuttal from the City Council was that they wanted to pass it anyway so that it would be prosecuted locally in the Everett municipal court.

The fine for not reporting a missing gun can be up to $250. The offense of not reporting a stolen or lost firearm is an infraction, so it gets handled in a municipal court much like the handling of a parking ticket.In 2017, the police department reported that 140 firearms or more were stolen or lost in Everett.

On July 11th the City Council voted unanimously to pass the new ordinance; it then went to Mayor Cassie Franklin's desk, who signed it into law.

It is already unlawful in the city to leave a firearm unlocked, as attested to by the City Council's Lock It Everett campaign.

The council then passed another ordinance creating a misdemeanor for aiming or firing a gun within the city Everett, including pointing it at another person.

Gun Rights Watch was very interested in finding out if any exemption was made for legitimate uses, such as pointing a gun in self-defense under imminent threat of murder or violence, or of any exemptions for police officers during the normal course of their duties, but we could find none.

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“A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms… "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."- Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788